richard kimber, the inside story. according to china's national bureau of statistics, retail sales felled nearly 6 percent in november from a year ago. the biggest drop since made industrial production growth slowed to 2.2 percent less than half of october's growth. property investment, which accounts for as much as 30 percent of g. d. p has plunged by nearly 20 percent year on year and unemployment worsened. rising to nearly 6 percent, it's highest in 6 months. ah. all right, let's go ahead and bring in our guests in beijing. andy mach senior research fellow at the center for china and globalization in washington, d. c. shirley z you a fellow at the ash center of harvard kennedy school and in san gallant switzerland . guido caught c a professor of macroeconomics at the university of san gallon, a warm welcome to you all and thanks so much for joining us today on inside. sorry, andy, let me start with you today. the fact that china, the world's 2nd largest economy is reporting another slump. how concerning is that ins

richard kimber has more from hong kong. certainly, leaders from both sides made it very clear that they're absolutely committed to improving this long standing difficult relationship. china's foreign minister when he said he's prepared from his side to completely reset the ties, is there the last few years haven't happened? he's blamed australia unilaterally for making this relationship so difficult to under the previous administration of scott morrison in particular. but when listening to penny wong as feed back in the question and answer session after these meetings, it was clear. there's still a lot of major difficulties for this relationship. and none of them seem to have been immediately addressed. whether it's the trade sanctions that we'd imposed on australian exports to china, whether it's accessible, australian consular officials to detained australian citizens in china. whether it's australia's view, which is a western view in large part of human rights concerns in china with regards to the northwest region. of si

first, richard kimber in hong kong tells us about the reaction to the figures. >> there is unease andtainty among the chinese public about just how successfully country can manage the crucial transition probe this transition period. to now, one in which society and the economy are rapidly opening. talking to business consultants, they say that employees are finding their workforce are reluctant to go to the office and to the companies themselves are elect to hire new staff. all because of an uncertainty about the future of the economy in the future of covid-19 transmission risks in a country that has largely been insulated from any type of widespread transmission because of there being so many rules and restrictions in place. that logic meeting some parents are reluctant to send children to school. shoppers on the street to not want to go to busy places or spend much money because of this uncertainty over the how the next few months will unfold. analysts say this will likely setback by some months any chance of there being a quick and efficient rebound in china. they are expecting it

so let's bring in that richard kimber, who joins us live now from hong kong. hello there, richard. tell us a little bit more about this app and the significance of the move by banking. well, this is a really big deal for your average chinese citizen, because this app has been a cornerstone of china's efforts to try and stop the transmission of code 900 over the last 2 years. it effectively has kept a record of exactly where you've gotten prevented you in many cases from being able to travel from one province to another, which has been especially a big deal for chinese families who are trying to reconnect over the lunar new year holidays. now those are coming in just around 6 weeks time at the end of january, and it could be the 1st time in almost 3 years that many families are going to be able to get back together without any kind of cobit 19 hurdles gets again away. so that's really how big a deal this is your average tiny citizen. this app is being dismantled from a midnight monday when effectively no longer be a requirement for people who are trying to move from one province to

but 1st, richard kimber in hong kong tells us about the reaction to the figures. there is a great sense of unease and uncertainty among the chinese public about just how successfully the country can manage this crucial transition period between what has been a nice 0 tolerance approach to corona virus cases, to now one in which society and the economy of both rapidly opening up again, talking to business consultants in the country, they say the employers of finding that their workforce reluctance go to the office right now. and the companies themselves, a reluctance a high, a new star, or because of an uncertainty about the future, the economy and the future of coven 19 transmission risk in a country that has largely been insulated from any type of widespread transmission . because of the being so many rules and restrictions in place, that same logic is meaning that some parents are reluctant to send their children to school and talking to shoppers on the street. they didn't want to go to busy places or spend much money, or because of his uncertainty about how the

richard kimber has more from hong kong. well, initially, the hope is that things are very much get back to normal. that manufacturing in global supply chains would get back contract international investors started pouring money into the chinese stock market just hours after these relaxation announcements were made. but now the world bank and many international banks have started fairly, aggressively scaling back their forecasts. what they think is possible for china, not just that this year, but also for next year, speaking to employers over the phone yesterday, based on the mail. and i was told that there are multiple cases of co, 19 on almost every country that everybody was speaking to. and that's affecting hiring. it's affecting long term planning, and it's affecting those very same supply chains that the international world. we're hoping we're going to get back on track. and so basically the expectations from the international economic well that china is growth story next year is going to be very much hampered by what'

richard kimber has more from hong kong. the procurement of internationally made cobit 19 vaccines in china is being seen as an acknowledgment that domestically made vaccines are simply not available enough or efficient enough to deal with what is largely understood to be a widespread and fast growing outbreak of co good 19 across the country health authorities have been reluctant throughout the pandemic to rely on or procure overseas made vaccines. the fact that they're now saying they're doing so is adding to international concerns that the real level of cove at 19 in the country and say talented associated with it is comma, serious than that, which the health officials in china actually reporting. not necessarily because of their reluctance to do so, perhaps because of their difficulty and actually monitoring what is thought to be a very fast spreading outbreak. research here in hong kong. we're trying to model what happened here on china by looking at the way that the exponential growth of cases occurred here. when rules

richard kimber, how's more from hong kong? asked us full initially. the hope was that things were very much get back to normal, that manufacturing and global supply chains. we get back on track international investors started pouring money into the chinese stock market just hours after these relaxation announcements were made. but now the world bank and many international banks have started fairly, aggressively scaling back their forecasts. what they think is possible for china, not just for this year, but also for next year. speaking to employers over the phone yesterday based on the mail. and i was told that there were multiple cases of cove in 19 on almost every country that everybody was speaking to. and that's affecting hiring, it's affecting long term planning, and it's affecting those very same supply chains that the international world. we're hoping we're going to get back on track. and so basically, the expectations from the international economic will that china's growth story next year is going to be very much hampered by what's expected to

richard kimber has more from hong kong. well, this is a really big deal for your average chinese citizen, because this app has been a cornerstone of china's efforts to try and stop the transmission of covey 19 over the last 2 years. it effectively has kept a record of exactly where you've gone and prevented you in many cases from being able to travel from one province to another, which has been especially a big deal for chinese families who are trying to reconnect over the lunar new year holidays. now those are coming in just around 6 weeks time at the end of january, and it could be the 1st time in almost 3 years that many families are going to be able to get back together without any kind of cobit 19 hurdles. guessing in the way, so that's really how big a deal. this is your average chinese citizen. this app is being dismantled when effectively no longer be a requirement for people who are trying to move from one province to another. or in some cases, just go in and out of major cities like beijing, as part of a series of

richard kimber reports are from hong kong. there are a few signs of life at many shopping districts in the chinese capital fears of a looming cove at 19 outbreak. keeping many people off the streets, mister chin barely sees any customers at his tea shop these days, but he's holding out hope that business will bounce back. or you can do. the pandemic will eventually go away. it'll take some time, but i believe things will recover. step by step of my business will gradually improve the latest official economic data is less optimistic. for the 2nd consecutive month, retail sales slumped almost 6 percent on last year. investment and industrial growth. both slowed in november and unemployment rose to the highest since may policymakers launching huge stimulus measures and pumping billions of dollars into the banking system. but analysts say it may take more than just money to spark and economic rebound. so there's a lot of fear in the country right now, so consumers, frankly, just are not willing to go outside to restaurants. a lot

more from richard kimber, who's in hong kong. the latest figures before the rules are relaxed, underscoring just how much of an impact these strict rules have had with everything from retail sales to factory output slumping. and that's not really showing any signs of having improved in the years and months up until this policy relaxation taking place. the hope is, of course, that because of those, we like stations, things will bounce back. but as a say, the expectation from says it could take at least 6 more months for that to happen because they expect that to be a period between now and the middle of next year when it will take a lot of time for the public to get more confident with the idea of the latest variance, if kobe 19 big acceptable in society and the way that they have already become so much of the rest of the world. and it's that time period that could be crucial for china because it's already struggling with high levels of unemployment and low levels of growth, which are not necessarily going to be sustainable withou

one are from richard kimber, who's in hong kong. certainly leaders from both sides made it very clear that they're absolutely committed to improving this long standing difficult relationship . china's foreign minister, when he said he's prepared from his side to completely reset the ties as they're the last few years haven't happened. he's blamed australia unilaterally for making this relationship so difficult to under the previous administration of scott morrison in particular. but when listening to penny wong as feed back in the question and answer session after these meetings, it was clear. there's still a lot of major difficulties for this relationship. and none of them seem to have been immediately addressed. whether it's the trade sanctions imposed on australian exports to china, whether it's accessible, australian consular officials to detained australian citizens in china. whether it's australia's view, which is a western view, in large part of human rights concerns in china with regards to the northwest region of sin, jang,